bissett bullet: are you their most trusted advisor?
today’s bissett bullet: “be your client’s first, last and ultimate line of defense in making sure that their business and personal aspirations come to fruition.”
by martin bissett
marketing & sales
keep business development going during busy season
consistency is key.
by martin bissett
business development on a budget
you may be asking yourself how you will know when you are successful in your selling efforts. many people have asked me that, but it’s the wrong question because firms have different goals.
more: health, wealth, stealth: challenges on the path to partnership | it’s time to prepare the next generation | who are you more committed to, your firm or your clients? | nine checkpoints before every prospect meeting | three questions about conversion | six keys to turning prospects into clients | don’t overlook internal communication | four reasons people struggle with communication | why firm culture matters for partners | competence is step one of seven | three things that rich accountants do
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some want to simply tick over and replace the clients they lose, some want to grow exponentially, some want steady and consistent growth they can measure and monitor. so there is no one definition of success. but no matter what yours is, you will never attain it if you are inconsistent in your process of winning new business.
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four questions for choosing your marketing audit strategies
what segments and services offer you the most potential?
by august j. aquila
price it right: how to value accounting services
let’s continue with our marketing audit discussion. now that we have some firmwide objectives, we need to select strategies. there are many ways to accomplish something, and it is necessary to select how you are going to go about doing it.
more: maybe what you need is a marketing audit | clients have six reasons for needing you | six ways to market your technology consulting practice | sixteen marketing activities to try | the four steps of your personal marketing process | how does your firm measure up? | six questions before asking for all the referrals you deserve | five rules for a marketing orientation | ten keys to marketing success
selecting your strategies
let’s look at four different strategies.
- cost reduction. as new forms of technology and artificial intelligence enter the workplace, it is increasingly possible to achieve a competitive advantage by using them to reduce the cost of service delivery. tax processing software is a common example that firms have used over the last 20 years. ai could help firms reduce costs in multiple areas of the firm, from tax research to improving processes.
creating the perfect ad
here’s how to get it right.
by bruce marcus
professional services marketing 3.0
editor’s note: 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 was privileged to have a long relationship with bruce w. marcus, who was ahead of his time in his thinking and practice in marketing for accounting. we are publishing some of the late expert’s evergreen work, which retains wisdom for the present.
at last, the perfect law firm ad campaign. well, pretty much perfect. the 39-office, atlanta-based law firm has been running an ad campaign that embodies every principle of good advertising.
more: ten keys to crafting ads | eighteen things advertising can do for your firm | how and why client service teams work | manage knowledge as a marketing tool | secret marketing formula: get one client at a time | marketing a fixed position in a moving world | how to build a marketing culture | have you planned how to service your new revenue? | why is change so hard for firms? | why value pricing works | why competition matters most
its ad in the wall street journal has a picture of a man in front of a crossroad sign as if he were choosing which fork to take. the headline, which is really a callout in the middle of the copy, is in larger type than the rest of the text, which says “where you go now” (lower case as is).
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advisory work must be priced by value, not hours
technology pushes us to handle more advisory work, which allows more value pricing.
by jody padar
the radical cpa
as a professional in the industry, you may find some of what you do easy. just because you find it easy doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable and worth more than the time you put into it. if it were truly easy, your clients would be doing it themselves rather than paying you.
more: how hard do you work to keep your clients? | four things to know about social media | internal communications are underrated | four things better than a company song | let’s lose the word ‘image’ | the risk in not understanding risk | what your marketing program can and can’t do | nine reasons that prospects say yes | how marketing evolved to 3.0
undervaluing ourselves and what we bring to the table is a chronic problem plaguing accountants and cpas. why do i say this? because people pay more for the luxuries they value. let’s look at a comparison:
today, the msrp of a cadillac escalade is over $81,000 while the msrp of a chevy suburban is slightly under $60,000. if these automobiles were priced according to the time it takes to make them, plus the cost of their parts, the difference between their retail prices would probably be far less. to maximize profits, gm spends a lot of time and money researching how much their customers value their different products. certainly, the brand makes a difference, but the cadillac also offers a more luxurious package. it doesn’t cost gm a lot more money to offer these luxuries, but their customers place a much higher value on them, and gm understands that value.
pricing according to value really isn’t a radical concept!
maybe what you need is a marketing audit
how to get started.
by august j. aquila
price it right: how to value accounting services
great marketing tactics can take time, money and a great deal of sweat to plan and execute. cpas who appreciate the power of marketing are frequently anxious to jump right into the implementation process without doing any planning. but do they really know what the marketplace wants from them? sometimes gut feelings are right, but few firms can afford to act on intuition alone.
more: clients have six reasons for needing you | four steps to a successful email marketing campaign | five reasons to implement change orders | make your practice better | eleven marketing strategies for smaller firms | five questions for developing your marketing plan | you only have four strategies | the damage that traditional fee methods do
investing marketing dollars with confidence requires a thorough understanding of your practice, its people, the marketplace and your competitors. an audit-based marketing plan lets you do just that. this post provides both the theoretical and practical knowledge needed to (1) perform a marketing audit, (2) develop marketing objectives and strategies and (3) implement the plan through an integrated approach.
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bissett bullet: do i know you?
today’s bissett bullet: “what is your linkedin connection strategy? do you have one?”
by martin bissett
a vast number of connections on your linkedin profile page may look impressive but there is a compelling argument for knowing at least the vast majority of your linkedin contacts personally.
there will of course be people connected to you that you have never met in person. you may have worked with them remotely, may have presented with them on a virtual panel or you may have engaged with their content and identified them as somebody with whom you could build a mutually beneficial relationship; but there is a genuine connection there.
your linkedin network is a potentially valuable referral source and time spent nurturing those relationships is time well spent. the better the relationship you have with your connections, the more likely they are to champion your firm when someone in their network is in need of a recommendation.
today’s to-do:
take a look at your strategy moving forward. start to be more selective about who you connect with and prioritize people you know, would like to work with or who can introduce you to your ideal clients.
clients have six reasons for needing you
understanding this is part of mastering the art of sales.
by august j. aquila
price it right: how to value accounting services
no matter how good your marketing tools are, there is one tool that needs to be especially sharp, and that is your salesmanship. all the marketing tools we mentioned previously will be of little value if you don’t know how to “ask for the business.”
more: four steps to a successful email marketing campaign | three types of marketing message, and which is best | why you need progress billing | five tips for cross-selling and upselling | five keys to successful marketing | twelve fundamentals of planning | one question to guide your growth plans
you need to understand the selling and buying cycles. they are critical for your success.
while there are many ways to make a sale, i prefer the consultative partnership approach (cpa) to selling accounting and consulting services. this approach is based on three key principles:
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ten keys to crafting ads
and why some ads don’t work.
by bruce marcus
professional services marketing 3.0
editor’s note: 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 was privileged to have a long relationship with bruce w. marcus, who was ahead of his time in his thinking and practice in marketing for accounting. we are publishing some of the late expert’s evergreen work, which retains wisdom for the present.
certainly, the current crop of ads tends to be better than the earlier ones, although we had such weirdies as “accounting is our passion.” (“passion” is the current fad word). i thought passion to serve clients is more to be desired. how many words will be wasted to explain the link between their passion and their ability to meet your need?
more: eighteen things advertising can do for your firm | how hard do you work to keep your clients? | when clients think they know marketing | how to put target marketing into context | everyone in your firm is marketing | accountants vs. lawyers: who wins the marketing battle? | professional services marketing requires flexibility
then there was “financial restructuring without the bitter aftertaste,” for a law firm. the copy’s ok, but the illustration of three executive with faces screwed up (presumably from the bitter aftertaste) looks as if they’ve been drinking doctored kool-aid. pretty inviting, isn’t it? a good rule is don’t try to be funny in public until at least six strangers, none of whom is related to you, laugh at what you’ve written. nothing sours an ad more than unfunny attempts at humor.
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bissett bullet: speaking their language
today’s bissett bullet: “identifying an ideal client and sharing a definition of that ideal client internally is only worthwhile if it is consistent with and supported by your marketing.”
by martin bissett
your firm’s messaging must speak to the needs of your ideal client, do so in their language and demonstrate exactly why you are best placed to help them.
without educating the general market as to what you offer and how you have helped similar businesses – communicating that through social media posting, the firm’s website or other means of advertising – you are relying purely on the market’s perception of an accounting firm to dictate whether they reach out to you or not.
today’s to-do:
ask a friend or family member to look at your website and social media. ask them based on what they see there, what it is that they think you do for your clients. if they get it right, your messaging is on the money. if they don’t, the assumptions that they made are likely to be the same ones that your prospective clients are making.
see more bissett bullets here
bissett bullet: remember the golden rule
today’s bissett bullet: “please do not talk to your clients and prospects about services but rather the achievement of their desired objectives and outcomes.”
by martin bissett
despite us having discussed this subject earlier on, nevertheless you will already have forgotten about it because it takes time to form a habit. remember the golden rule. people buy outcomes and people buy you. is your approach from a personal meeting perspective and a firmwide marketing perspective, demonstrating that you are the right person to work with and that you are focused on creating outcomes that they want to see realized?
today’s to-do:
if your website talks more about your services than it does about your results, change it today.
see more bissett bullets here
four steps to a successful email marketing campaign
promote your consulting services as products.
by august j. aquila
price it right: how to value accounting services
we’ve discussed marketing tools, how they can be divided into three main types (one-way messages, two-way messages, and one-on-one messages), and what each type will accomplish. in this post i will examine using email and show you how to make it effective.
more: three types of marketing message, and which is best | six ways to market your technology consulting practice | sixteen marketing activities to try | the four steps of your personal marketing process | how does your firm measure up? | six questions before asking for all the referrals you deserve | five rules for a marketing orientation
email marketing is a strategy for a firm to send promotional messages to people in mass quantities. to start email marketing, you need to select an email marketing tool/service, build your email list, decide the type of campaign you want to use, write persuasive messages, make a schedule, run the campaign and measure the campaign results.
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eighteen things advertising can do for your firm
and five things it can’t, no matter how good it is.
by bruce marcus
professional services marketing 3.0
editor’s note: 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 was privileged to have a long relationship with bruce w. marcus, who was ahead of his time in his thinking and practice in marketing for accounting. we are publishing some of the late expert’s evergreen work, which retains wisdom for the present.
advertising, in professional services, has a strange history. more words, and more dollars, have been wasted on it, and less seems to have been learned from its mistakes than from any other marketing tool we currently use.
more: how hard do you work to keep your clients? | four things to know about social media | internal communications are underrated | four things better than a company song | let’s lose the word ‘image’ | the risk in not understanding risk | what your marketing program can and can’t do | nine reasons that prospects say yes | how marketing evolved to 3.0
in the early days – the few years post-bates (1977) – advertising was still anathema to law and accounting firms. arthur young was probably the first to do it after bates, which was an exercise in courage (i was there – i remember) and then came deloitte’s “beyond the bottom line” campaign. the more likely scenario at the time was typified by the then-managing partner of price waterhouse, who said about advertising, “over my dead body.” now law and accounting firms, including its successor firm, pwc, spend millions. marketing for professionals, as we know it today, didn’t come easy. i’m not so sure it’s much easier today. certainly, getting it right in advertising is no slam dunk.
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